


A Lie of Omission

by EchoFall



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abusive Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Abusive Relationships, Gaslighting, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Self-Esteem Issues, Swearing, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Unsympathetic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, abusive anxceit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:08:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22746787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoFall/pseuds/EchoFall
Summary: Maybe Virgil wasn't as innocent as everyone thought...
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit Sanders
Comments: 12
Kudos: 155





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Gets very dark. The tags will be updated as I upload chapters.   
> My Tumblr is @echo-fall

A whimper ran through the subconscious, interruption Remus from his statue. The half-finished clay statue of a very particular body part was briefly abandoned as the dark side of creativity quietly wandered up to the door of the only other person still living with him. He stood outside Deceit’s room as another whimper ran out, hesitating as to whether or not he should go in. He made his decision as another whimper and a sob was heard, opening the door and quickly standing next to Deceit.

His eyes widened as he took in how the snake-like side looked. He was curled up in his bedsheets, sweating and frowning in his sleep. His clawed hands were scraping at his arms as he struggled and groaned out a single word.

“V-Virgil…” one word slowly turned to more as he struggled even more, going from whispering to yelling in a matter of moments. Remus was still in shock as his only friend screamed out the name of the one who left them alone in the dark side. Remus was knocked out of his stupor as Deceit sat up on the bed and started hyperventilating. The dark side of creativity quickly went to try and calm down and comfort his crying friend.

“Dee… Dee, it’s ok! You j-just need to calm down al-alright? You’ll… you’ll be ok!” He desperately told his friend, his heart sinking more every second Deceit panicked. The snake-like side’s eyes finally snapped to him when Remus let out a small sob like noise. He looked surprised to see him as if he had just realised he was there. Deceit’s breathing became noticeably slower and he looked much calmer, but it was clear he was still panicking.

“R-Remus? Why are you… why are you here?” He asked Remus, looking anxious. “Did- did I wake you? I’m sorry! Please! I’m-I’m not lying! Please don’t leave! I’m so sorry!” He looked desperate and heartbroken as if waking Remus up would cause him to suddenly hate his best friend. Remus suddenly regained his ability to speak and quickly began to reassure his friend.

“No! I was downstairs, and you were having a nightmare so I just came to make sure you were ok!” He was shocked that Deceit would think that he would leave him just because he had woken Remus up. “I would never leave you, Dee!”

“B-but… Virgil…” Deceit whimpered, suddenly locking Remus in a tight hug and sobbing into his chest. Remus put a hand on the back on Deceit’s head and another on his lower back to comfort his crying friend as he gently hushed him, already plotting what he was going to do to the anxious side.

“What did he do, Dee?” He asked in such a soft voice that if Deceit told the others they wouldn’t believe him, not like they do much anyway. “What did that bastard do to you?” Deceit let another whimper and softly started to tell Remus what Virgil had told him.

“He… he said that once you realised how much of a nuisance I was, you’d hate me too! And-and that you’d see me f-for the mistake I was and-and that… t-that you would…” he cried harder, seemingly not able to get the words out. Remus was cringing on the inside and really wanted to give Virgil a price of his mind, but he knew he had to be here for Deceit.

“That I would what? Please, I know you don’t want to say it, but you have to tell me.” He said calmly, and he almost missed what Deceit had muttered into his chest, but it made his blood run cold.

“That you would hit me like he did”

‘Like he did’… realization shot through Remus’ mind as he processed that one sentence that seemed to be almost the entire cause of why Deceit was currently bawling into his chest. Virgil had abused Deceit. He had hit him. He had beat him up. He had been the cause of all those bruises that he assumed had just been Deceit being clumsy. He had made such a once-proud side scared of his only friend leaving or maybe even abusing him because he thought he had woken him up. And Remus didn’t notice. He let that fucking psycho abuse his best friend and he didn’t even notice. He knew he had to make this right, and in this state of determination, he wondered, did the light sides know of what Virgil had done?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rape is mentioned after the dash so beware of that  
> Tumblr is @echo-fall

In the time Deceit had been with Virgil, he had learnt many things. To stay quiet, to not question Virgil, to let not fight back, and many others. The most important thing he had learnt, though, was never to tell the others what was happening between them.

He lied to Remus, telling him that the bruises and cuts on him were just him being clumsy, maybe getting into a fight with the light sides or getting lost in the imagination. He didn’t want to lie, as Virgil had always told him he was a bad person for doing so (and so had the light sides, according to him). He knew it was bad, but it was what Virgil had said to do, and he had to listen to Virgil, right?

So when he collapsed into Remus’ arms and spilled most of what happened between him and Virgil, he had been so, so scared. Scared that Virgil would hurt him for it. Scared that Remus would hurt, use, eventually leave him. Telling him he was ‘a nuisance’ and a ‘useless, snake-faced liar’ like Virgil had.

When Remus embraced him, he had felt some of the worries leave him. Remus wasn’t going to hurt him. But, he did tense back up when he started yelling in a clear fit of rage.

“I’m going to kill that fucking raccoon-eyed emo!” Remus screamed, causing Deceit to flinch away, trying to make himself smaller. Remus realised he would have to be much more careful than he usually was, and would have to stop being so loud, brash, and careless.

“Oh Dee-dee, I’m not mad at you! You’re ok! I promise!” He said as soothingly as he could, which for him, wouldn’t be that soothing to anyone else, but Deceit knew. Knew that, though Remus was loud and horrid, he was honest, and he was loyal. He knew that Remus would never intentionally hurt someone as close to him as Deceit was, so Deceit unfurled himself and looked at Remus, making sure to avoid eye contact.

Remus grinned and reached forward to hug his friend, before freezing part-way into the motion. He instead looked towards Deceit, looking slightly sheepish.

“Can I give you a hug?”

Deceit had a small, genuine smile on his face as he cautiously nodded, slowly holding his arms out. Remus quickly but carefully gave Deceit a full-body hug, causing the snake-like side to let out a small yelp of surprise. Remus giggled and let the other side go, bouncing on his heels with a wide grin on his face.

“C’mon, Snakey! I’m starving!” He said, practically dragging Deceit into the kitchen. Just as Remus was about to open the fridge and grab out something to eat, Deceit stopped him.

“Hey! We’re going to eat a proper dinner tonight, and after what happened last time, you won’t be helping!” Deceit said, pushing Remus out of the kitchen and into the living room.

“Yeah, ok, but do you really feel like cooking?” Remus asked, giving Deceit a sly grin. Deceit stared blankly at him for a moment before reaching into the fridge and grabbing out some leftover spaghetti. Remus grinned even more.

***

After they had finished eating, Remus knew that he had to talk to Deceit about what Virgil had done. He didn’t want to, but he knew that he had to. He and Deceit were curled up on the couch, two bowls discarded on the coffee table in front of them when Remus turned towards Deceit.

“Dee-Dee…” He started nervously, not wanting Deceit to get panicked. Deceit sighed, turning to look at Remus. He knew what was coming.

“I know you probably don’t wanna y’all about it… but I need you to tell me what Virgil did to you.” He finished, putting a hand in Deceit’s shoulder in a comforting manner. Deceit took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to say.

“We were dating, I wanted to tell you, but he told me I shouldn’t. He… would yell at me if I did something he didn’t like. He always called me a liar and said that I didn’t love him. He told me to prove it, and would f-force me to k-kiss him…” He paused, not noticed that he had started looking down and curling into himself. Remus was horrified. How could he let this happen to his bestest friend?

“Oh, Dee… It’s okay, you don’t have to continue, it’s fine. You can tell me another time, and we can just go to bed or watch a movie maybe?” He tried to comfort Deceit, moving slowly to carefully wrap him in a hug. Deceit set back up and took a deep breath. He swallowed down the lump in his throat, meeting Remus’ eyes.

“No, it’s okay. I can continue.” He said Remus didn’t look so sure, but he didn’t speak up. Deceit let out a sigh, break fly closing his eyes. “A couple of months in, he started hitting me and leaving bruises on my wrists. He told me I deserved it, and I thought I did. I started cutting my wrists because I knew I deserved to feel pain. I think Virgil knew, but he never stopped me. He said that you didn’t care about me; that he was the only one that did. I believed him.” Deceit paused again, this time to wipe his eyes. Remus gave him a sympathetic look,

“Are you sure you can continue? I don’t want to force you but you sound like you’re getting really upset and I don’t want to see you upset so-“

“I’m fine, Remus.” Deceit interrupted Remus’ rambling, giving him a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes before going back to his and Virgil’s relationship. “He would make me beg for him to stop hitting me, and would cover the bruises so you couldn’t see them.”

-

“One day, Later on in the relationship, he pushed me onto the bed without warning. He started stripping me and I told him I didn’t want this; that I was a sex-repulsed asexual and that I-I just couldn’t do it… Not with anyone.” He choked back a sob. “He told me that I was a liar and that he knew what I wanted and how I was just being frigid. I-I didn’t want it! I swear! I told him to stop! B-bit he di-didn’t…” He was crying heavily, and could barely get a breath in through his panic. He thought he could hear Remus’ voice telling him to calm down, but it was distorted. He was no longer on the couch, but instead in Virgil’s room: half-naked and pinned down. Virgil was yelling at him, taking his own shirt off before unbuttoning Deceit’s skinny jeans-

Then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;) ;)
> 
> I'm not sorry


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im very sorry this took so long. I blame a mix of writers block and then tumblr, where i write all this shit on, died for me for like 2 days so yeah i couldnt do much.

Remus watched in concern as Deceit got himself even more worked up, knowing any action he made would only make this worse. When Deceit started to hyperventilate, though, he knew he had to step in.

“Dee! It’s okay, Dee. It’s okay.” He tried to reassure his scaly friend, but his words fell on short. Deceit didn’t seem to be able to hear him, or maybe he was just ignoring him. Whatever the cause of it was, Remus’ words didn’t have any effect on Deceit. The Creative side watched in dismay as Deceit worked himself into unconsciousness. He looked sadly at his friend and sighed.

“I don’t know how to help you, Dee. I really want to help you, but I don’t know how.” He whispered sadly before wandering over to the dining room table where his sculpture was. He knew that he should probably stay with Deceit, but he couldn’t look at him without feeling a pang of incredible guilt that it was his fault that Dee was like this. It kind of was, wasn’t it? He should have seen the signs, he should have stepped in. But he didn’t.

He sighed again and got comfortable on the chair he was now sitting in; ready to sculpt and take his mind off of this whole thing. There was no point worrying about the past, he could still redeem himself by helping Deceit now. He could also redeem himself by kicking Virgil’s ass. He smirked, smacking the clay butt in front of him and pretending it was Virgil.

Remus wasn’t sure how long he had spent perfecting his clay sculpture of someone completely random’s and definitely not Deceit’s rear end, but he was eventually roused from his work by a groan coming from the couch. He immediately snapped around, nearly knocking his chair over in his rush to get to the couch.

He leaned over Deceit ominously, staring right into his unopened eyes. When Deceit finally woke up from his unwilling depression nap, he was met with a pair of very concerned - if not somewhat deranged - brown eyes. Very close brown eyes. Too close brown eyes. Deceit let out some sort of a small shriek and ended up rolling off of the couch he was laying on. Remus snorted.

“Are you okay down there, Snakey?” Remus asked mockingly, grinning when Deceit let out another small groan and gave him a half-hearted thumbs up. Remus let out another small chuckle before helping Deceit back onto the couch. The lying side suddenly looked very apologetic and guilty.

“Remus… I’m sorry about passing out before, I was very dramatic and I should’ve just calmed down. Sorry for wasting your time.” He looked down, not noticing how Remus face immediately changed to look shocked, horrified, confused, and upset all at once.

The Duke let out a small noise that sounded suspiciously like an Offended Princey Noise™ but more… wet? It was definitely very Remusy. He looked at Deceit with wide eyes for a couple of silent seconds before finding his voice once more.

“Oh, no, Dee… You can’t blame yourself for having a panic attack! You were the victim! It’s not your fault, it’s Vi- that fucker upstairs’ fault!” He quickly said to Deceit, who had finally looked back up and met his eyes. The snake-faced side huffed.

“I’m sure.” He looked incredibly unimpressed with Remus, who responded with some weird, incredulous look on his face.

“Well, now you’re just being stubborn!”

“Aren’t I always?” Remus smirked and let out a small laugh.

“Eh, can’t disagree with that!” He finally admitted. There was a small, comfortable silence as they both relaxed in each other’s presence, reminiscing the times Virgil would be here to do this with them. It was almost sombre, and neither of them wanted to break or ruin the sudden peace in the room.

Deceit knew he shouldn’t miss Virgil, and he didn’t. He missed the times like this, the time before Virgil ruined his life and their friendship. Before the anxious side left. He, Virgil, and Remus always had moments like this, where they would just laze around in the couch, enjoying each others company. He wished it was still like that; he wished that the three of them were still friends. If only Virgil hadn’t gone and ruined everyth-

“-e? Dee-Dee? Are you okay? You kind of phased out there, Dee!” He was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts by Remus’ words, finally realising that The Duke was leaning in very close to his face. Deceit unconsciously moved back a little bit, and Remus took that as a cue to stop crowding around him.

“You just went into your head and wouldn’t come out!” Remus pouted at his best - and only - friend. Deceit immediately felt guilt burn at his insides.

He knew Remus wouldn’t hurt him, they were friends, weren’t they? It’s not like that stopped Virgil. He furrowed his brow and once again got sucked into thoughts, before he was, once again, snapped out of them by Remus’ whiny voice.

“You’re doing it again!” Remus was pouting even more now, and voice seemed even whinier. Deceit quickly stuttered out a response.

“S-sorry, I-I won’t do it again.” He said quickly, hoping to appease Remus before he got too mad. It was now Remus’ turn to furrow his brows.

“Dee…”

Deceit may have mistaken this for frowning at him and was now even more shaken than before. He hurriedly stammered out another response before Remus could continue.

“I-I swear! I’m not l-lying! I-I won’t-won’t d-do it again! P-please! I’m s-sorry!” He was nearly sobbing, and his breathing was starting to quicken once more. Remus gave him a look filled with nothing but sympathy, before pulling him into a tight hug.

“Dee… It’s okay Dee. I’m not mad at you, I know you can’t help getting stuck in your head. It’s okay.” His reassuring voice helped calm Deceit, who was now only whimpering into Remus’ shoulder. “It’s okay Dee, I’m here.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deceit and Remus talk, and it’s surprisingly calm for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I didn’t update I just didn’t feel up to writing for over a month. Also spoilers for SvS Redux.

They stayed there, curled up on the couch together, until Deceit had completely calmed down. They lied in each other’s company, just happy to be together and relax. And while Deceit was calm for now, but how long was it until he had another panic attack? Remus knew he would need some serious assistance if he wanted to help Deceit recover from what Virgil had done.

He didn’t really want to ask the light sides for help, but he knew that he would have to, for Deceit’s sake. He couldn’t go to Patton, he liked Virgil too much and would listen to him over Deceit, and he couldn’t go to Roman, not only would that asshole not know the first thing about helping someone in Deceit’s state, he also hated both the Lying Side and The Duke. It would be no use going to him. So that left only one side who would maybe even consider helping them: Logan. Or so he thought.

“Remuss? What are you thinking about?” A slightly tired sounding hissed voice asked, interrupting Remus from his planning. He looked down to where Deceit lay across him and the couch. He seemed to have migrated across the whole thing, instead of being curled up into a ball like he was before. The Snake-Like Side blinked groggily, tilting his head ridiculously far back and staring up at Remus from upside down. The Duke couldn’t help but grin and snort. Deceit just glared, and Remus sighed.

“I’m gonna get Logan’s help with kicking Virgil’s ass and getting you some help.” He stated confidentially, before realising that maybe that wasn’t the smartest thing to say in this situation. He quickly looked over to Deceit, trying to gauge his reaction from his facial expressions. It wasn’t going very well, since Deceit’s face was currently blank and unreadable.

“Uhh...” Remus said intelligently.

“Rem... I... I need to tell you something.”

‘Uh Oh’ Remus thought.

“Alright.” Remus said.

“I told them my name.” Deceit said, entirely deadpan. Though his face now betrayed that, as it was now his turn to try and read Remus’ face. Remus, unlike Deceit, was not very good at hiding his emotions and not portraying them on his face, so he looked just as confused as he sounded when he finally opened his mouth after a couple seconds of silence.

“What.” It was stated like a demand, and Deceit had to suck in a deep breath and mentally remind himself that this wasn’t Virgil, and that Remus wouldn’t hurt him.

“I went up to the light side and helped them out. They though I was Logan at first, but then I revealed myself after Patton turned into a giant frog in a video game? It was weird. Logan also said some stuff but it was through the message bubble things in video games? Also weird. Anyways, Virgil wasn’t there so I revealed my name and Roman laughed at me and... I.... Uhh...” He froze coming to a complete stop after blurting the whole explanation in record time. Remus was squinting at him, his face frozen into one of confusion. He seemed to still be processing Deceit’s word vomit while the Snake himself was quickly trying to think of a way to explain whet he had said back to Roman.

“What happened after Roman laughed at you? Also I’m gonna kick his ass for laughing at you. He’s second on the gonna-kick-their-ass list. Just after Virgil.” Remus said indignantly, while Deceit giggled, covering his mouth. He sighed, deciding to just tell Remus what he had said.

“I... I said that it was lucky he didn’t have a moustache, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to tell who the the evil twin was.” Deceit said quickly, his voice barely above a mumble towards the end. Remus was silent. Deceit hunched in on himself, not willing to look at Remus’ face. He was just about to make a break for it and start running when Remus let out a laugh. A really loud, quite wheezing laugh. Deceit looked up in shock.

“Oh Dee-Dee! That’s hilarious! I bet he did that thing with the Offened Princy Noises!” Remus looked like he could barely breath “Oh! Or maybe not Dee-Dee- Or, actually, no I’m still gonna call you that-“

“You’re not mad?” Deceit asked before he could stop himself.

“What? Of course not! That was hilarious! I’m the evil twin! I’m the one that makes sex jokes and is disgusting and gross! It doesn’t bother me, Dee-Dee. Truly.” He said, giving Deceit a huge goofy, grin. Deceit let himself relax, going back to his position of laying upside down and looking up at Remus, before he froze, his brain finally catching up with Remus’ words. Remus felt him freeze up, and thought he had done something wrong.

“Dee? You okay?” He said cautiously, shuffling himself up from where he was resting agaubst the side of the couch so he could get a better look at Deceit. Deceit suddenly shot up and turned around, nearly knocking both himself and Remus off of the couch while quickly making panicked eye contact with Remus.

“Eh- Argh- Wha-?” Remus said with as much elegance as usual. Which in his case, was very little at all.

“I never told you my name!” Deceit proclaimed suddenly, sounding stressed, “Oh My God I’m gonna tell you right now-“

“You don’t have to!” Remus said quickly, trying to placate Deceit. Though his words were entirely ignored.

“-My name’s Janus!” He finished, looking up at Remus, searching his face desperately.

“... Like the Roman god?” Remus said after a moment of silence.

“Yeah.” Was all Deceit said in return. There was another bout of silence. Suddenly, Remus nodded.

“... Fitting.” Was all he offered, and that was enough. Deceit basically deinflated, collapsing near Remus and giving him a lazy grin. He didn’t laugh at his name, and he wanted to beat up both Virgil and Roman! what more could you want from a friend?

Remus snorted. Apparently he had said that out loud. Whoops.

“I’m glad you think I’m such a good friend!” Remus said still trying (and failing) to stifle his laughter, “I promise you, D- Janus, that they will get what they deserve, especially Virgil. That bastard will pay.” Remus promised, Suddenly looking serious.

“... Thank you.” Was all Deceit said, closing his eyes and curling up around Remus. Said dark side knew how much this meant, and that this was a huge show of trust from Janus. He was grinning so hard it was hurting his face as he copied Janus’ last movements.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys get fluff for once.


End file.
